Monday, October 31, 2011

trick or treat

Some random things I've enjoyed recently:

Misfits. U.K. series that I just sat and watched the two seasons on Hulu. I have seen constant fandom for this show and I didn't have a clue what it was about but I wanted to see what the fascination of it was so I went to IMDB and looked up the summary. Five juvies having to work at their community center as part of their sentencing and end up in the middle of a freak storm that zaps them with superpowers. The show could have been very bad, but from the first episode it's good. They have these powers and none of them want them - each episode something disastrous happens and the team uses their powers in some way to fix it. Kelly can hear people's thoughts, Curtis can go backwards through time, Simon can turn invisible, Alisha can make people really horny from touching her, and Nathan cannot die along with seeing ghosts.

What keeps the show from becoming horribly cliche (like it very well could have been) is the kids deal with the powers probably how I might if I ever got zapped in a lightning/hail storm. They don't take advantage of them and more or less look down on them because of the trouble they cause. Sort of similar to Skins, it depicts young adults as they really are and it's a character study show. I've noticed both shows never really overshadowed other characters but keeps them all separately important. Most shows I have watched tend to start out with every character equal and then some characters/couples/story lines get "front and center" while others turn into background noise. I really never see this with U.K. shows I've watched and I like that aspect.

Longview. A British band that had one album, Mercury, but a really good one. I first heard some of their tracks on the short-lived WB series, Tarzan but looked them up on Rhapsody later on and heard their entire album. They have an alternative pop/rock sound if I could label it anyway. There are upbeat songs and sweet ballads equally on the album. My favorite tracks are Further, Can't Explain, and If You Asked but the whole album is pretty golden. Usually use it as ambient music for when I am busy doing things. I was surprised they did not have follow-up and I'm not sure if they are even a band anymore. I did stumble upon a few of their videos. I assume they had little success in the U.K. because I never heard anything about them here in the U.S. except they were in an American television show.

Joe Jonas. I will admit I have Jonas Brothers albums and I do enjoy some of their tracks. I've also harbored a crush on Joe ever since I've heard of them though he did have some bad hair-dos (or is it hair-don'ts?) back then. So when he ventured to do a solo project I wondered what it would be and it ain't too shabby. His album, Fastlife, is some nice, upbeat dance music and his singles "See No More" and "Just in Love" are enjoyable but my favorite track is "Love Slayer", just love the idea behind it. I would love to see him act more, I saw the episode of Hot in Cleveland he appeared in. Besides, he seems to be comfortable as he is and willing to make fun of his self, I could see him in a comedy or an ensemble piece and fitting right in. Actually, it doesn't really matter what he was in, I just think he'd be good in it.

That's it really...oh, Happy Halloween since it is the day. I almost forgot! Wow, I should have talked about some scary movies or Halloween songs I like. I heard "The Blob" by the Five Blobs yesterday and it made me laugh. I like the movie but I don't remember there being some theme song for it. "Monster Mash" is another classic along with "Thriller", "House of a Thousand Corpses" by Rob Zombie is great. I love his music...I can never get enough of him or Alice Cooper. They know how to do spooky tunes really well.